Reed finds aging Castro still very much
in charge
By JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington Bureau, 4.2.99 00:03:19
The Rhode Island senator joins Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, of Vermont, for a visit to Cuba and
dinner with the island's dictator.
WASHINGTON -- Fidel Castro is plainly headed for his exit from ``the stage of history,'' Sen.
Jack Reed said after a visit last weekend with the legendary Cuban leader, but it's hard to know
when.
Consequently, it's hard to prescribe any major or immediate changes in American policy toward
Cuba, including the longstanding economic embargo, said Reed.
Reed, a new member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt.,
on the four-day trip to Cuba. It included interviews with a few Cuban dissidents, a meeting with
Havana's Roman Catholic archbishop, the Cuban all-stars baseball game with the Baltimore Orioles,
and a long, late supper with Castro Sunday night.
Reed found the 72-year-old leader of Cuba's revolution ``very charming, very social, very
engaging, with a wide-ranging mind, and obviously in very good health.''
Reed said he and Leahy were told their date with Castro would materialize with little warning.
That's how it came to pass. They were told Sunday -- the day of the baseball game, which they
attended -- that Castro would have them for a late dinner. It was very late, 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Every time the two senators introduced a dissenting view about Cuba's Communist system, Castro
would let his subordinates argue the point momentarily and then he would deliver a brief speech and
change the subject, Reed reported.
Reed said the Cuban economy has clearly deteriorated since the breakup of the Soviet Union,
which had provided huge capital subsidies. ``Castro is adroit at exploiting'' the desire of Cuban
exiles in the United States to help their relatives on the island with cash aid known as the
``remittance'' program.
The Cuban leader also is skillful at quelling dissent without resorting to death squads or
disappearances or the other violent tools of other repressive regimes in Latin America, Reed said.
Therefore, the senator said, it is likely that Castro will maintain his strong grip on Cuba for
the rest of his life, providing he stays healthy.
``When he goes, though, all of the economic decay and all of the social decay are going to lead
to changes,'' Reed said. The task of the United States is to be ready for that moment and try to
exert influence to prevent the inevitable change from becoming bloody.
Reed's prescription was modest: increased social and economic exchange programs and giving the
Cuban people greater exposure to the ways of democracy and capitalism.
Despite what he called his ``dubious'' view of the economic embargo against Cuba, Reed said ``it
may not make sense unilaterally at this point to walk away from a very tough policy.''
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